The HBO series The Last of Us is based on the video game franchise of the same name, developed by Naughty Dog. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a fungal infection has spread across the globe, turning people into zombie-like creatures. The first season followed Joel (Pedro Pascal)—who had lost his own young daughter—teaming up with Ellie (Bella Ramsey)—the one person who appears to have a natural immunity against the infection—as they traveled across the United States. In the season finale, Joel and Ellie had arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they were ambushed by Firefly soldiers and taken captive. The Fireflies were planning to extract Cordyceps from Ellie’s brain in order to create a vaccine/cure for the disease, but this surgery would kill her in the process. Joel managed to escape, murdering all of the doctors before they could cut into Ellie, who was already under anesthesia at the time and unaware that this was going on. Afterwards, Joel lied to Ellie, telling her that the Fireflies had found other immune people, and that their attempts to create a vaccine didn’t work, and so they no longer needed her.

The second season picks up five years later. Ellie and Joel have settled in a community of survivors in Jackson, Wyoming, along with Joel’s younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Life in this community is generally calm and peaceful, and it seems like things have finally returned to normal—or at least however normal things can be in this new world. Ellie has even managed to make some friends her own age in town, but she still keeps her immunity a secret. Some sort of strain appears to have developed in the relationship between Ellie and Joel over the 5 year gap—did Ellie learn the truth about what Joel did? Or maybe it’s just typical teenage growing pains.

However, the peaceful atmosphere at this idyllic community is all about to change. Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the daughter of one of the men that Joel killed to rescue Ellie, has been plotting her revenge, along with her fellow former Firefly soldiers. Joel’s lies about what really happened in Utah won’t stay hidden for too long and he worries about how Ellie will take the news. After a massive attack on the Jackson community, Ellie decides to head off to Seattle to hunt down Abby and her team to retaliate, but soon finds herself in the middle of a much larger war between the Washington Liberation Front (WLF)—led by former Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA) sergeant Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright)—and a mysterious militant religious group called the Seraphites. Ellie, fueled by rage and a quest for answers and vengeance, heads into her mission half-cocked and ill-prepared. This quickly leads to more unforeseen consequences and collateral damage, only making matters worse and leaving her to deal with the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of her actions.

I’ll preface this review with the fact that I have never actually played any of the The Last of Us games, so I had no preconceived notions of what was going to happen to these characters, or where the story is going to go, and can’t really compare how faithful the series is to the games. I really enjoyed the first season, so I was looking forward to seeing what happened next.

The second season of The Last of Us It quickly gets viewers up to speed with how things work at this Jackson community, with Ellie and friend Dina (Isabela Merced) going out on patrol, where they encounter a new kind of more intelligent stalker form of the infected. Meanwhile, Joel is receiving counseling from therapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara) who is eager to know the truth about how her husband Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) was killed. And Abby and her former Firefly soldiers, Owen (Spencer Lord), Nora (Tati Gabrielle), Mel (Ariela Barer) and Manny (Danny Ramirez), have made their way to the town, hoping to get their revenge for the hospital massacre. The series then wastes no time jumping right into the action. The second episode features an amazing spectacle—a massive battle that most shows would save until much later in the season. This sequence certainly holds its own against some of the big epic battle sequences we’ve seen on other HBO shows like Game of Thrones. While there are some other great, exciting action set pieces over the course of the season’s remaining five episodes, this is by far the biggest.

The second season is quite an emotional one, and primarily focuses on Ellie’s journey. She goes through the gamut of emotions this season, often allowing her feelings and desire for revenge to govern her actions rather than common sense and rationally thinking things out first. This often makes matters worse and leads to additional collateral damage. The season also explores a new love story for Ellie, as she and Dina develop their relationship while on their dangerous, ill-planned mission in Seattle. Isabela Merced is great as Dina—her character’s connection with Ellie feels natural and real. Dina is a bit of grounding force that Ellie needs at this moment. Plus there is this fun love triangle-ish setup between Ellie, Dina and her ex Jesse (Young Mazino).

The second season also introduces these two new factions of survivors that are at battle with one another, which our characters find themselves unfortunately swept into. This brings in some exciting new characters with ruthless WLF leader Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright) and his soldiers Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach), Janowicz (Josh Peck), Burton (Ben Ahlers) and Elise Park (Hettienne Park), among others. This battle between these two groups gets pretty bloody and brutal!

There’s not really a standalone episode in season 2, like the first season’s “Long, Long Time”. The closest we come to that is the penultimate episode, “The Price”, which finally explores what happened during the five year gap through a series of flashbacks, and explains why there was this rift that formed between Joel and Ellie. We also see Joel and Tommy’s father, Javier Miller (Tony Dalton), in these flashbacks.

I mostly enjoyed this second season (the second episode battle was amazing), but not as much as the first season. The second season does a nice job of expanding this world, introducing interesting and dangerous new offshoots of the infected. The series sets up this complicated question of who is right and who is wrong. While Joel killed Abby’s father in the name of protecting Ellie, did he really need to, and did he go too far? Is Abby’s quest for vengeance justified? At the same time, Ellie’s death could have potentially saved the entire world, so was Joel just being selfish, not wanting to experience loss again?! Kaitlyn Dever is excellent as Abby, for the little that we get to see her this season, and I look forward to seeing more of that character.

One of the issues I had with this season season is the pacing and way the story was told. While it’s heavy on the action at the start, it skips over the 5 year period in-between seasons, opting to finally cover this in the season’s penultimate episode. I had read that the second video game flips back and forth between Ellie and Abby’s storylines to explore what’s happening with both of them at the same time. However, the series takes a different approach, primarily concentrating on Ellie’s path in season two, while planning to explore things from Abby’s perspective in the forthcoming third season. I wish they had gone for the interleaved approach of the game, as we are left with a lot of holes in this second season. This approach will also likely make it so we hardly see the regular main characters in the third season.

Another thing I didn’t really care for this season is that a lot of Ellie’s decisions just seem to be very stupid, by running on her emotions, she often puts her friends in danger for no good reason. Once she and Dina arrive in Seattle and witness what’s going on there, Ellie should have just abandoned her mission of revenge, headed back to Jackson, and tried to once again to gather a larger team of support from the community, instead of forging ahead completely outnumbered and ill-prepared.

Warner Bros has released this second season of The Last of Us on 4K Ultra HD SteelBook, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital (in 4K at Fandango at Home). I was sent the 4K SteelBook version for review. I originally watched the series in HD on HBO/HBO Max, so I was quite impressed by the increased level of detail and clarity in this 4K release. The 4K picture features Dolby Vision color grading, and looks rich and beautiful throughout, even in the show’s darker sequences. The Atmos soundtrack really shines, whether it’s the show’s excellent score, or the fully-immersive ambiance, which is especially noticeable during big action sequences such as the attack on Jackson, or Ellie and Dina being chased by infected through an abandoned train car.

The season’s 7 episodes are split across 2 discs, which are placed on either side of the Steelbook case, covered by a j-card detailing the release’s contents. Unfortunately, no digital copy is included, but the discs contain over 2.5 hours of behind-the-scenes bonus material, including two brand new featurettes exclusive to the physical media release as well as Making Of featurettes for each of the seven episodes of the season. Any fan of the series will certainly be pleased with the breadth and quality of these behind-the-scenes featurettes.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:18:00)

4K UHD:

• All 7 episodes of the second season:
  Disc 1 (2:51:11): “Future Days”, “Through the Valley”, “The Path”
  Disc 2 (1:37:35): “Day One”, “Feel Her Love”
  Disc 3 (1:49:14): “The Price”, “Convergence”
• 2160p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Dolby Vision / HDR10
• Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby 7.1 TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Italian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish (Latin) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Czech 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish (Castilian), Dutch, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Spanish (Latin), Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Extras:
Includes 2 never-before-seen featurettes.

• Making of The Last of Us: Season 2 (1:13:22)
  The cast and crew discuss the character developments and events of each episode. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers/directors Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin, directors Mark Mylod, Peter Hoar, Kate Herron & Nina Lopez-Corrado, directors of photography Catherine Goldschmidt & Ksenia Sereda, VFX supervisor Alex Wang, SPFX supervisor Joel Whist, prosthetics designer Barrie Gower, production designer Don MaCaulay, co-executive producer/writer Halley Gross, stunt coordinator Marny Eng, and stars Bella Ramsey (“Ellie”), Catherine O’Hara (“Gail”), Pedro Pascal (“Joel”), Kaitlyn Dever (“Abby”), Isabela Merced (“Dina”), Gabriel Luna (“Tommy”), Young Mazino (“Jesse”), Rutina Wesley (“Maria”) & Jeffrey Wright (“Isaac”). These can be found on each disc with the related episodes.
  • Episode 1 (8:53)
  • Episode 2 (9:08)
  • Episode 3 (12:12)
  • Episode 4 (11:24)
  • Episode 5 (8:32)
  • Episode 6 (11:06)
  • Episode 7 (12:07)
• Growing the World of The Last of Us (2:03)
  The cast and crew discuss the bigger scope of the second season, the sets, dealing with the elements, the action, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin, and stars Young Mazino, Rutina Wesley, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced, Pedro Pascal, Kaitlyn Dever, Bella Ramsey, Jeffrey Wright & Catherine O’Hara.
• Welcome to Jackson (Set Tour) (3:24)
  The cast and crew discuss the building of the town of Jackson for season 2. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with creator/writer/executive producer Neil Druckmann, director Mark Mylod, production designer Don MaCaulay, art director Callum Webster,
  and stars Rutina Wesley, Young Mazino, Bella Ramsey & Gabriel Luna.
• Battle of Jackson, Deconstructed (11:13)
  An extensive look at creating the siege of Jackson, which is not in the game. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, concept artwork, storyboards, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann, director Mark Mylod, VFX supervisor Alex Wang, prosthetics designer Barrie Gower, and stars Gabriel Luna & Rutina Wesley.
• Joel’s Journey to Season 2 (3:39)
  Clips showcasing Joel’s journey in the first season.
• Ellie’s Journey to Season 2 (2:58)
  Clips showcasing Ellie’s journey in the first season.
• Character Featurettes (3:36)
  The actors each discuss their characters and where they are at in the second season. Play All, or select from:
  • Joel (:57)
  • Ellie (:51)
  • Abby (:54)
  • Dina (:54)
• Mushroom Taste Test (4:33)
  Actors Kaitlyn Dever, Bella Ramsey, Young Mazino & Isabela Merced sit around a table and taste and discuss various mushroom-based food dishes and drinks.
• Pedro and Bella Q&A (6:34)
  Stars Bella Ramsey & Pedro Pascal read fun questions written on cassette tapes to one another.
• Open Book: Isabela Merced & Young Mazino (5:07)
  Stars Isabela Merced & Young Mazino pose fun questions to one another.
• Stalker Showdown, Deconstructed (3:21)
  The crew discuss the the design of the stalkers, and filming Ellie’s confrontation with 11 of them. Includes beind=the-scenes footage, concept artwork, game footage, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann, prosthetics designer Barrie Gower, director Stephen Williams, VFX supervisor Alex Wang, SPFX supervisor Joel Whist, and star Bella Ramsey.
• Camera Roll: Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced & Young Mazino (3:13)
  Stars Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced & Young Mazino discuss the stories behind some behind-the-scenes photos of themselves.
• In Action (4:34)
  The cast and crew discuss filming some of the season’s big action sequences. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with stunt coordinator Marny Eng, directors Mark Mylod & Nina Lopez-Corrado, horse wrangler Danny Virtue, SPFX supervisor Joel Whist, stunt double Cassandra Ebner (“Ellie”), and stars Kaitlyn Dever, Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey & Isabela Merced.
• Ellie’s Path (16:39)
  The cast and crew discuss Ellie’s journey for revenge, what fuels her, her relationship with Joel, Abby’s parallel journey, the collateral damage of her search for revenge, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin, co-executive producer/writer Halley Gross, directors Peter Hoar, Stephen Williams & Nina Lopez-Corrado, and stars Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced & Gabriel Luna. New Featurette Exclusive to the 4K, BD and DVD release.
• Beneath the Surface: The Visual FX of The Last of Us (16:41)
  The cast and crew discuss the use of practical and visual effects, costumes, combining practical and digital effects, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with creators/writers/executive producers Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin, VFX supervisor Alex Wang, directors Mark Mylod, Kate Herron & Nina Lopez-Corrado, costume set supervisor Steve Holloway, costume set assistant Steve Oben, costume designer Ann Foley, key breakdown artist Samantha Stroman, assistant costume designer Alison Fraser, prosthetics designer Barrie Gower, prosthetics supervisor Paul Spateri, directors of photography Catherine Goldschmidt & Ksenia Sereda, SPFX supervisor Joel Whist, stunt coordinator Marny Eng, and stars Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced & Bella Ramsey. New Featurette Exclusive to the 4K, BD and DVD release, but some of this footage is repeated from previous featurettes.

Final Thoughts:

The Last of Us Season 2 is another action-packed season that brings lots of changes for our characters, new human dangers, and more evolved infected. Warner Bros. 4K release looks and sounds amazing, and the discs include over 2.5 hours of extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes that are sure to please fans. Two of these featurettes are exclusive to the disc release. The STeelBook packaging looks very nice, but unfortunately the release doesn’t include a digital copy of the season. Fans of the series will definitely want to add this to their collection.